Palhares is now up there with MMA grappling GOATS

[Readybodisready]

Submitting Shields(never been done before) and Fitch back to back is incredible. If you would take a moment without being salty and look at the skill level he shows in there it reminds me of some of the catch wrestling phenoms, he just grabs whatever he can and executes a hold perfectly.

I really wish we got to see him against Maia, we were robbed as MMA fans of that. What a tragedy.

 

[Mammothman]

Shields is already goat in that category, they will need send Maia to WSOF to stop him, if not let bring Rockhold, Lombard or Jacare

 

[viniciusfs]

Palhares is the greatest MMA grappler ever. He is a beast.

 

[King of Fists]

Agreed. And athough his guard game wasn't too dynamic he definitely landed the better ground strikes despite being in bottom position (which ultimately led to Jake trying to lnp too hard and catch and accidental eye gouge unfortunately)

 

[Readybodisready]

Shields is already goat in that category, they will need send Maia to WSOF to stop him, if not let bring Rockhold, Lombard or Jacare

It's too bad Jacare and Werdum are too big. Pound for pound I think Palhares is on their level though, so is Shields and Maia. Here's my all time top 10 grapplers in no order:

-Sakuraba
-Rickson
-Werdum
-Shields
-Maia
-Arona
-Jacare
-Nogueira
-Barnett
-Mir

 

[Mark Andeya]

In terms of finishing ability, he's definitely top 5 all time. Between the quality of his victims and the sheer violence he submits them with, I would rank him like number three, probably the most dangerous non-heavyweight submission artist, right below Werdum and Mir.

Grappling as a whole, he loses a few points because he definitely isn't a positional whiz lol (too reckless) but he is fantastic nonetheless. Possibly top 10 all time.

 

[The Reed]

I don't know... his showing against Belcher was pretty weaksauce.

Def. one of the greatest submission artists to ever compete in MMA though.

I think Werdum is #1 (submission wins over Fedor, Big Nog, Velasquez, Overeem, etc.)

His last two fights more than made up for the Belcher performance IMO.

He'll further expand his legacy after he goes to One FC and does the same thing to Askren(since he'll probably get banned from fighting in America).

Also, see sig.

 

[Pseudo Sane]

His last two fights more than made up for the Belcher performance IMO.

He'll further expand his legacy after he goes to One FC and does the same thing to Askren(since he'll probably get banned from fighting in America).

Also, see sig.

Paul Harris ability to mar his real accomplishments and incredible talent with consistently reckless and unsportsmanlike behaviour is almost Tyson-esque.

I wish he had the ability to control himself better, because with more discipline, he could have been a contender for the UFC title.

As it is, he will be lucky to fight on continent again.

 

[InfinityLens]

We'll see during the inevitable Paul Harris v Askren.

 

[TRYHARD 2001]

We'll see during the inevitable Paul Harris v Askren.

I see him taking Askren's leg home with him. The guy is just a submission machine and Askren's standup is Shields-esque.

 

[Baba Ghanoush]

What does that make Belcher?

In all seriousness though, I think his style is reckless and his guard game is absolutely weak to where he had to resort to eye gouging to defend from Shields mounting him. His biggest advantage is that he just hulk smashes people into submissions. No surprise that same hulk strength would grow to shine even more within organizations on the outskirts of any thorough regulation.

 

[BisexualMMA]

I've never spoken poorly of Palhares skills. I just honestly wonder how he has the cognitive functioning to actually acquire them.

 

[Hotei]

Well yes, he is one of the very best finisher of all time.

 

[gopackgo555]

Palhares is the greatest MMA grappler ever. He is a beast.

no... but he is one of the best bjj guys ever (in terms of bjj in mma)

 

[Zefram Cochrane]

I gotta agree

 

[Pierced7681]

It's too bad Jacare and Werdum are too big. Pound for pound I think Palhares is on their level though, so is Shields and Maia. Here's my all time top 10 grapplers in no order:

-Sakuraba
-Rickson
-Werdum
-Shields
-Maia
-Arona
-Jacare
-Nogueira
-Barnett
-Mir

No Aoki? Imanari? Kitaoka?

 

[Readybodisready]

No Aoki? Imanari? Kitaoka?

Have these guys faced other great grapplers and got the better of them, submitted them? Definitely not the last two.

 

[The Reed]

Have these guys faced other great grapplers and got the better of them, submitted them? Definitely not the last two.

Are we talking MMA here? If so plenty of times. Imanari has the second most black belt subs in MMA and Aoki made a career out of out-grappling good MMA grapplers. Going by your own criteria I'd say they've probably out grappled more great grapplers than anyone you listed.

 

[Readybodisready]

Are we talking MMA here? If so plenty of times. Imanari has the second most black belt subs in MMA and Aoki made a career out of out-grappling good MMA grapplers. Going by your own criteria I'd say they've probably out grappled more great grapplers than anyone you listed.

Impressive. Need more details though.

 

[The Reed]

Impressive. Need more details though.

Alrighty

Aoki
Subbed: Hironaka(kinda), Jason Black, Joachim Hansen x2, Kazuhiko Nagata(Wrestling Silver medalist), Tatsuya Kawajiri, Rich Clementi, Kamal Shalorus

Out-Grappled: Kikuchi x2, George Sotiropoulos, Bu Kyung Jung(Judo Silver medalist), JZ, Caol Uno, Marcus Aurelio, Satoru Kitaoka, Antonio McKee

Imanari
Subbed blackbelts Jorge Gurgel, Renato Tavares, Hiroshi Umemura, Jean Silva, Hiroyuki Abe & Mike Brown.

Kitaoka's pretty great too.